5
Maybe just a new logo would do the job. It is very dark and .... boring.
If you take the blue you used for menue, it is fresh and vibrant, but the blue in your logo is rather calming.
And add a 1px light green border around the google adds.
Regarding your changes, not bad, though very MS XP like. And I would have all fonts in item headers and footers display as bold, and with a hint of green. I would also give the News items a 5px bottom margin, so that they don't tough each other.
One last idea, have drop down shadows for you News Section Logos.
Hope this inspieres
Just noticed, you also have a gap at the top of your news that you want to get rid of...